Abstract: A network printer comprises a network interface to be connected to a communication network, in addition to a parallel interface to be connected to a host computer through a dedicated cable in one to one correspondence. A CPU within the printer executes an interruption processing for receiving a received by the network interface from the host computer, a communication task for removing a header from the received packet to extract print job data and storing the print job data into a print data buffer, a language task for interpreting the print job data within the print data buffer, and a print task for generating raster image on the basis of the interpretation result of the language task.

Abstract: A mediation server 200 mediates a print demand from a client device 100 to a printing device 300. In order to elude a firewall F/W set between the mediation server 200 and the printing device 300, the printing device 300 first sends an HTTP request to the mediation server 200. The mediation server 200 sends back an HTTP response including a print demand to the printing device 300. Encrypted communication may be established between the client device 100 and the printing device 300 according to the following procedure. The mediation server 200 decrypts cipher data, which is encrypted with a public key by the client device, with a private key, re-encrypts the decrypted data with another private key, and mediates the encrypted data to the printing device 300. The printing device 300 decrypts the encrypted data with the public key and carries out printing. This arrangement enables the printing device to carry out printing in response to a demand from the client device via respective secure network environments.

Abstract: A home gateway 30, input devices, output devices and a client are connected via a network LAN. Installed into the home gateway 30 is a server-side program 100 for performing control of input devices and output devices, edit of image, and provision of an interface window to the client 10. Once the user specifies the devices to be used for input-output of image through the client 10, the server-side program 100, according to this specification, imports the image from the input device, transfers to the output device and causes the image to be output. This enables input-output of image to be achieved without installing a device driver.

Abstract: This invention is composed as a printer which receives a print request from a computer, the print request including a request to a peripheral device to acquire print data, and sends the acquisition request to the peripheral device, and performs printing on the basis of the print data sent from the peripheral device in response to the acquisition request. Accordingly, the printer is capable of receiving the print data from the peripheral device instead of receiving the print data from the computer.

Abstract: The invention enables to readily download device control software to control device.

Abstract: A printer generates a public key with a passphrase containing at least printer position information, and holds the public key in a public key storage. When transmission of a public key is requested by a print client, the printer reads the public key from the public key storage and transmits the public key. The print clients transmits print transmitting data generated by encrypting print data with the previously acquired public key. The printer which has received the print transmitting data generates a private key with a passphrase containing at least printer position information. The printer decrypts the received print transmitting data with the private key.

Abstract: A printing system is constructed by connecting a client and multiple printers to a network. A printer PRT1 receives a print job JOB0, which includes specification of a plural number of copies to be printed, from the client, changes the specified plural number of copies to one copy as a modified print job JOB1, and distributes the modified print job JOB1 to other printers specified as alternative printers. The printer PRT1 manages a total number of copies including a number of copies distributed to the specified alternative printers and a number of copies printed by the printer PRT1 itself, so as to eventually attain printing of the specified number of copies. The printer having these functions enables the simply constructed printing system including the multiple printers to implement distributed printing of a print job that specifies printing of plural copies.

Abstract: A printing system is constructed by connecting a management server with a large number of printers via a network. Each printer records a log, which represents a consumption of an expendable, for example, a consumption of toner, and is mapped to an elapsed time period measured by a built-in timer, and uploads the recorded log to the management server at a preset cycle. The printer acquires an upload time from the management server in the process of uploading and carries out subsequent recording with the acquired upload time as a base time. The printer corrects the elapsed time period mapped to the log, based on the upload time acquired from the management server. This arrangement enables even a printer without a real time clock to prevent expansion of an error and efficiently record the log with high accuracy.

Abstract: A printer acquires a relative distance between the printer and another printer and holds the relative distance in an alternative printer list table. When selecting a printer to which a request for alternative printing is made, the printer searches relative distances in the alternative printer list table and selects a printer with the shortest relative distance as an alternative printer. Consequently, the printer to which the request for alternative printing is made or the like can be efficiently selected.

Abstract: A server is connected with multiple printers as network devices via a network. The server maps setting information to MAC addresses of the respective printers and stores the mapping to consolidate the management. Each of the printers sends a setting information transmission request including its own MAC address to the server. The server then selects setting information mapped to the MAC address and transmits the selected setting information to the printer. The printer receives the transmitted setting information and updates the storage contents of a built-in setting information memory module, based on the received setting information. This arrangement effectively relieves the load of setting operations for various network devices.

Abstract: A printer stores printer position information in sequence and calculates its representative value as statistical printer position information by a statistical method. When a public key is requested by a print client, the printer generates a public key with a passphrase containing the statistical printer position information and transmits the public key to the print client. The print client generates print transmitting data by encrypting print data with this public key and transmits the print transmitting data to the printer. The printer generates a private key with a passphrase containing the statistical printer position information at this point in time and decrypts the print data.

Abstract: A printer calculates a distance between a print client which makes a print request and a printer based on print client position information and printer position information. When the distance between them is within a predetermined range, the print request from the print client is accepted, and when the distance between them is not within the predetermined range, the print request from the print client is not accepted. For example, when the print request is not accepted, the printer does not permit the print client to transmit print data to the printer. Consequently, the print request accepted by the printer is restricted by the distance between the print client and the printer.

Abstract: A server computer acquires printer information containing printer position information from a printer and stores the printer information in a printer information table. When the printer information is request by a print client, the printer information is provided after authentication as required. The print client generates print transmitting data by adding the printer position information to print data and transmits the print transmitting data to the printer. The printer which has received the print transmitting data acquires printer position information at this point in time, and when the printer position information at this point in time coincides with the printer position information contained in the print transmitting data, the print data is printed by the printer.

Abstract: In the present invention, by embedding job administration information into print job data when a printer driver produces print job data, a printer which receives the print job data extracts the job administration information from the print job data at the stage that the printer spools the print job data to a hard disc or the like and the administration of the print job data is executed based on the job administration information. Accordingly, even before the print job data is interpreted for printing processing, a host apparatus which has obtained the job administration information can individually administrate the print job data supplied to the printer based on the print job data.

Abstract: The present invention is a printer controller furnished with a processor for exclusively executing a first task (printing task) for controlling a print engine, a second task (communication task) for controlling communication with host computers, and a third task (language task) for generating image data. These tasks are assigned priorities of execution in the order of the printing task, the communication task, and the language task. When there is a request for the execution of a task with a higher priority during the execution of a task with a lower priority, the processor executes the higher priority task whose execution has been requested instead of the lower priority task currently being executed. Therefore, the processor is able to execute the communication task, language task, and printing task with no conflict.

Abstract: A single CPU executes three tasks, a communication task, an image production task, and a print task. A block managing section has plural reception blocks of plural sizes, and determines a reception block which is to be given to the communication task, in accordance with the use states of the reception blocks. When the rate of receiving data from a network is higher than the data processing rate in a printer, a block of a size which is larger than that of the previous block is given to the communication task. When the data receiving rate is lower, a block of a size which is smaller than that of the previous block is given to the communication task. According to this configuration, even when the traffic congestion of the network, or the like is changed, it is possible to suitably allocate the CPU execution time period to the tasks.

Abstract: A printer receives job location data showing the location of the job data of each print job and simultaneously sends a request for acquiring attribute data such as a header related to the job data to host computers which the job location data shows. The printer analyzes attribute data sent earliest, demands job data related to the attribute data from the host computer which sends the attribute data and processes the print job. Another printer provided with plural output bins receives job data for the number of the output bins, allocates the job data to each output bin, processes the print jobs of the job data in parallel and outputs the printed result generated by the processing to the allocated output bin in the generated order.

Abstract: A printing device (1) includes print management means. The print management means interrupts the execution of a print job under execution and executes preferentially another print job waiting for printing: 1) when the print job waiting for printing rather than the print job under execution is first executed, the best order of printing operations is secured or the print mechanism (6) is more efficiently operated, or 2) the processing of the print job under execution takes much time because of time consumption by the intermediate code generation and the like.

Abstract: The invention makes use of that fact that the layout of a web page providing a variety of contents is rarely modified but only the contents in the layout is modified. A network printer stores in advance a network address (for example URL) where contents are retained, location information of the necessary contents in the contents retained at an address site and described in a predetermined language (for example HTML) and the print layout information of the contents. The network printer accesses the site on the network with a preset timing, receives the retained contents, extracts the necessary contents from the received contents according to the contents location information, and prints the necessary contents according to the print layout information.

Abstract: The invention proposes a scheme in which even in the case where a lot of print sites each of which provides a printing service by secure network communication are constructed on a network the print sites can be managed easily, as well as a system as an implementation of such a scheme. A printing method is provided which uses a server computer for a relay between client computers and printers that are connected to each other via a network. The server computer establishes sessions in response to secure communication session establishment requests from a client computer and a printer, respectively. The server computer connects the two sessions, and the client computer sends a print job to the printer via the server computer and causes the printer to perform a printing operation.